Cascade Lakes Relay 2010

11 of us ran 216.6 miles from near Crater Lake to Bend Oregon. There are two vans, all runners in van 1 run, then van 2 runs, then van 1 runs, etc alternating three times until everyone has done three legs...or in our case we had a couple people run 4 to make up for having 5 runners in our van.

We got some early good luck when the rental place at PDX was out of mini-vans. Would a 12 passenger van suffice?? Yee-haw!

A big part of the fun is having cool van mates.....because basically you are stuck together for 40hours in a row.
Introducing the van 2 characters:

Dave (the guy who got me into this running nonsense in the first place),

Kateen

Laura Thomas (Bend)

Mike Robinson (Salem)

Driver/runner Rian Johnson (Portland)

Me

At the first major exchange we get to meet up with Van 1, we only get to interact with them at major exchanges really......in some ways we are like two mini teams. This was typical scene at the major exchange, all eyes looking for our runner to come roaring around the bend. Notice how fresh we all look, van 2 hadn't yet run and van 1 had just finished their first segment.With the Malia to Dave exchange....van 2 was officially under way

Some vans actually supported their runners....we apparently chilled out and took pictures!

Next time we need to bring one of these sprayers....a big hit! Mike taking advantage of it.

Nah...our van was there when needed, here I felt like I had an entire pit crew, although they did not offer me a new engine!

Running at 4,000 feet in the heat of the day was noticable for this sea level dweller

A familar scene here: "See you in a couple miles"....back into the van we go.

2nd major exhange point now....van 2 is done and van 1 is back running. Here our team captain Callie is taking the baton, aka slap bracelet.

Van 1 runners included Callie, Jim, Derrick, Sean, Malia and Todd

After some driving, some Dairy Queen and 2.5 hours of no sleep on a gymnasium floor, we were ready for round 2, this is about 2am, I am getting ready to roll. This was by far my favorite leg, cool temps and the novelty of running at night was enough to keep me enthused.

I think Rian pretty much sums up the feeling of the van here. But he was a good sport...he kept driving!

The next morning now...we are giving the bracelet back to van 1 again. They are now on their last legs....in more ways than one.
Malia dresses the part to represent our team. She is an Aleve bottle. We were "The OverAlevers" We aren't on fire, we are inflamed!

Home stretch now....back down into Bend

Success!! A great time. Thanks Callie for pulling this together and Van 2 for being fun van mates!